1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for inserting a broadcast program by detecting available channels over a hybrid fiber coax network or an optical cable network.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical cable network and a hybrid fiber coax network are considered efficient networks for transmitting high quality data. The optical cable network and the hybrid fiber coax network may include a plurality of entities such as a head-end system, a photoelectric converter, and the like. The “optical cable network” described herein may include the optical cable network or the hybrid fiber coax network, and a “cable broadcasting system” herein may include an “optical cable broadcasting system” or a “broadcasting system based on a hybrid fiber coax network”.
A broadcast program transmitted from the head-end system may be delivered to the photoelectric converter in a form of an optical signal, and the photoelectric converter may convert the optical signal to a Radio Frequency (RF) signal. An intermediate amplifier may include a plurality of stages, and amplify the RF signal converted in the photoelectric converter to a signal level corresponding to the signal level that is able to be received by a user terminal.
The user terminal may function to demodulate a broadcast program based on an appropriate standard, for example, the ITU-T J.83 transmission standard, and the like. Here, a total range of a frequency band from the head-end system to the user terminal is not used. Accordingly, there exists a need for utilizing unused frequency resources efficiently.